Many users of computing devices often have a need for clip art. Clip art is a general term used to describe prepared static images typically stored as a jpeg or bitmap file. With the growing popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web, the availability and use of clip art has become commonplace. There are many resources accessible on the Web where a user can download clip art for free or for a fee. Clip art is also available as a feature in many software modules, such as word processing software and drawing software. These software modules typically offer a finite library of common images that users can select and insert into their electronic work products. Clip art is desirable because, instead of creating one's own electronic image, it is often easier to use a prepared piece of clip art.
The popularity of clip art is based, in part, on the facility with which it can be used. Generally, one piece of clip art is stored in an individual file. The electronic files that contain clip art can be easily selected from a resource offering clip art and inserted into the user's document. Thus, someone with little computer training can locate clip art images and incorporate them into another electronic document or webpage.
One problem with conventional clip art is that it is static. That is, each image is stored as an electronic file and cannot be changed easily. The static nature of clip art requires a separate file to be stored for each variety of an image. One example that illustrates the problem is a page-a-day calendar. Although the calendar image for each day is largely the same, because the day and the date change with each day, 366 separate clip art files must be stored to create a calendar for a year. Thus, the static nature of clip art results in an inefficient use of memory and can affect the performance of the computing device displaying the clip art.
Furthermore, modifying a piece of static clip art is inefficient because the image itself cannot be revised. Instead, the static clip art file must be removed from the electronic document and a new clip art file must be located and inserted in its place. This replacement process also can be hindered in that libraries of clip art are not always readily accessible.
One example of an improvement in static clip art is an animated GIF (graphics interchange format) file. An animated GIF contains a set of static images that are displayed rapidly in a specific order giving the image the appearance of animation. However, animated GIFs are limited to the relatively few images stored in the file and do not provide the user with a flexible and dynamic image that can be varied to suit the user's needs.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a system and method to implement dynamic clip art images. Specifically, there is a need for a single dynamic clip art image that can take the place of several static clip art images. A dynamic clip art image can be modified by a user to look like one of the plurality of static images it represents. There is also a need to be able to modify an image in an electronic document without removing the image and replacing it.